The 12 Tribes of Israel - and Some Info on the Lost Tribes...

As I mentioned in my History of Israel page,
Jacob the biblical patriarch had 12 sons who became the ancestors of
the 12 tribes of Israel. Actually it is a bit more complex than that, but first
things first.

Jacob had 2 wives: Leah and Rachel. Each one of those wives had a
servant: Zilpah - Leah’s servant and Bilha – Rachel’s servant. Jacob
fathered kids from each one of those 4 women (what a man, what a man,
what a man...).

Here are the names of the kids each woman had with Jacob:Leah – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun and Dinah – who was the only girl.Rachel – Joseph, Benjamin.Bilha – Dan, Naphtali.Zilpah – Gad, Asher.

Quite a few Ha?!

There are two important points to mention:

There
is no Joseph tribe. Instead his sons Ephraim and Menasseh got the
status of independent tribes, and were given a piece of the land of
Israel.

The tribe of Levi did not occupy a specific territory in the land, but instead was dedicated to serving in the Temple.

After
the Exodus – the tribes left slavery life in Egypt – the 12 tribes of
Israel arrived to the promised land (not before wandering for 40 years
in the desert). Each of the tribes got a piece of the land – known in
Hebrew as “Nahala”, in which the tribe settled.

The land was divided between the tribes more or less as follows:

North: Dan, Asher and Naphtali.

South: Reuben, Simeon and Gad.

East: Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

West: Benjamin, Menasseh and Ephraim.

Real Estate was always big...

Nowadays you can find the “tribes” of Judah and Benjamin – which you
may know simply as the Jewish people that are living in modern Israel
and around the world. However, many people in Israel and elsewhere carry
the last name Levi and are most likely descendants from the Levi tribe.

As
to the rest of the “lost” ten tribes there are many theories and
speculation as to what happened to them. The Assyrians conquered the
Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC, and sent the Israelites into exile in a
region which is today’s Iran and Afghanistan. This is the point in
history in which the ten tribes were lost.

Your contribution will appear on a web page exactly the way you enter it here. You can wrap a word in square brackets to make it appear bold. For example [my story] would show as my story on the Web page containing your story.

TIP: Since most people scan web pages, include your best thoughts in your first paragraph.